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I was considering that the people who name species are most likely scientist and not latin scholars. I wonder if this means there are poorly translated species name. If so, I'd love to hear some examples of the poor translations and what we know about the intent of the name and the actual name.

Thanks!

Sean Yo
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    Welcome to the site. You might find this question about differences between Latin names in antiquity and in Scientific Latin, and about the history of Scientific Latin. – Adam Jun 14 '21 at 01:45
  • Welcome to the site! This question is interesting but in need of clarification so I have closed it for now. It seems to me that most species names are not translated but coined; many species with a scientific name never had an English or Latin name. Can you edit your question to specify what kind of "badly translated" names you mean? Both "badly" and "translated" leave room for interpretation. Are you looking for examples of mismatch between the (somehow recorded) intent and the eventual name? See the posts @Adam mentioned, too. This question can certainly be reopened once clarified. – Joonas Ilmavirta Jun 14 '21 at 09:45
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    @JoonasIlmavirta The genus names are most often coined but the species names, at least those I know from Central-European botany, as established by Linneus, are almost always adjectives that do carry a meaning on their own or are named after some person. I could imagine someone would make a mistake there but I can't imagine a productive question about that unless the question brings a specific example. E.g. check the names of various species of the genus Carex https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Carex_species – Vladimir F Героям слава Jun 14 '21 at 12:36
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    Thank you so much! I'll take a look at the material suggested and see if I can clarify the question, or indeed answer it! I'm super excited that you replied! Thank you!!! – Sean Yo Jun 15 '21 at 03:56
  • @SeanYo How's the process going? If you end up with a clearer question but find the answer, you can edit your question and then post the answer separately (once the question is opened). Or if you need help with anything, just leave a comment here and we can hopefully sort things out. – Joonas Ilmavirta Jun 19 '21 at 14:03

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